In total agreement with Supura B's review below, I found the management experience to be exceptionally disappointing and a hinderance to the ability to enjoy the property on Lewis Street where I lived. While the location is nice and placed me in good contact for school and employment, this is not enough to overcome the poor communication and serious management problems which ruin the unit and the living experience.
1. Management is non-responsive, rude, and difficult to get answers from. When I first expressed an interest in February for renewing my lease (before the worst of my problems below), I sent an email to the leasing office and two senior staff members. No response. Then another email two weeks later. No response. Then another. No response. Finally, I walked over to the leasing office and had my question answered and was told I would get an email with new lease terms. No response again and no new lease terms necessitated another formal letter in April and an email. Still no response even though I asked for confirmation. Finally in May, a week before the lease was due, I was asked to extend the lease. When I expressed this frustration in letters and via email, I was offered a "courtesy waiver" of the amenities fee. Residents were, also, never compensated with a credit for the amenities fee despite the fact that access was restricted during the entirety of the pandemic. The inability of management to respond to emails with any sort of urgency or interest was stunning, especially when two employees and the leasing office were all copied. When employees do respond, they are often snippy and discourteous.
2. Management's emails about important issues are inconsistent and frequently do not arrive in your inbox. When I complained about a lack of response, I was told that I "should have gotten an email" or was informed that "an email was sent." Despite checking spam, trash, approving Spectra's emails, and ensuring that my email on their Active Building system and other lists was in fact spelled correctly, I still did not receive many emails. Apparently that is my fault. I missed emails about "surprise inspections" from contractors, who arrived at 8:30 in the morning and demanded entry. And, once, I was awoken at 1:35 A.M. on a Tuesday morning because the restaurant, Salute, on the ground floor of Spectra, was cleaning their vents and didn't want to close to conduct their work at a more reasonable hour. The noise was so loud (sounded like an 18-wheeler running its engine) and made it impossible to sleep until well past 3:00 A.M. It got so bad that I had to call the Hartford Police Department and file a noise complaint to get some relief. When I later complained to the manager at Salute, I was told that Spectra was supposed to notify residents several times of this intrusion. There were no emails sent out and I remained without any notice of this inconvenient and intrusive action in the middle of the night.
3. Utility and unit issues. Within two days of being in the unit, I found issues including a broken garbage disposal despite the fact that the unit had been "walked through" and utilities allegedly checked by management prior to occupancy. To fix the garbage disposal, it took an angry email to management to finally get the issue fixed after a repair request sat in the "queue" of the maintenance team for several days. The hot water didn't work and, again, it took several hours to get the issue resolved. I also found that the washing machine and dryer were inordinately loud and later had issues with the toilet which, again, took several days to resolve. The lock on the door physically fell out within just two weeks of normal use, posing a security risk and making entry to the unit difficult. It took multiple calls to the emergency maintenance line to finally reach somebody to repair the lock. For a newly restored building at almost $1,600 a month and a "dedicated maintenance team" who operates regularly, I would have expected far better service and care.
4. The package room is a mess and packages were often not delivered to my door as promised. Even when I went to search for packages, the back log was enormous and the mountains of packages to sift through made it impossible to find items that belonged to you. On several occasions, packages were lost and, even after calls to the company's that shipped them and pictures confirming delivery at the package room, they could not be found. I had to file lost package claims for several items of value because of the inefficient and inattentive package delivery system.
For those reasons and because of serious issues with the management here, I would strongly urge against renting from Spectra on the Park. You would be better off looking for a unit rented by an individual or a different company with a greater commitment to resident care and prompt, attentive customer service. read more